Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-19

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In a number of countries, some people think it is necessary to spend large sums of money on constructing new railway lines for very fast trains between cities. Others believe the money should be spent on improving existing public transport.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 4.5)

In some part of the world many people believe that government should spend large amount of money on the construction of new railway lines while rest of the people believes that amount of money should be spent on other existing public transport. before giving my own opinion i will discuss both of the views in this essay from my point of view i would say government should spend equal money for each public transport

First of all Let's talk about why government should spent quite good amount of money for constructing new railway lines so as of now we all know that world wide population is increasing therefore lets take a part of this world India . many people in India prefers to travel via train for long distance in many parts of the India there are almost zero Railway services so people need to go around more than 10 kilometers to catch train so from my perspective i would say in that type of area government should spend Sufficient amount of money to help their citizens as an example there is a village named Pau in Indian state Punjab where people are demanding for railway station

On the other side i have seen a lot of places in India where people wants to travel city by city or village by village where they do not need to cover long distance so in that type of area people who can not afford personal vehicle they need public transport like bus station or like that so in some of area government should spend good amount of money on that as an example i would say there is a village named Navrang Which is a part of Indian state Gujarat where people need needs and in fact they are protesting for Bus station service for their citizen

In Conclusion i would say government should spend equal amount of money for both Railway Lines and Other public transport where people need whatever their citizen need.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion4.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.0
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the construction of new railway lines and the improvement of existing public transport, and it includes a clear position in the introduction and conclusion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and relies on anecdotal, repetitive examples (mentioning specific villages in India) rather than fully exploring broader socio-economic arguments. The position is stated, but the support lacks depth and extension. According to the band descriptors, this falls under Band 5.0, where ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed, though the prompt's core requirements are touched upon.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The essay lacks proper punctuation, capitalisation, and paragraphing conventions, which severely disrupts the flow. Sentences often run into one another without full stops or commas, and conjunctions are misused or missing entirely. While there is a basic introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, the logical progression is hindered by poor formatting and a lack of cohesive devices. For instance, phrases like 'First of all Let's talk about' and 'On the other side' are awkwardly integrated. Paragraphing is insufficient and the overall arrangement is quite mechanical, aligning best with a Band 4.0 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on words like 'money', 'spend', and 'public transport'. There are noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'equal money for each public transport' and 'people need needs'. Less common lexical items are rarely attempted, and spelling or phrasing inaccuracies occur throughout the text (e.g., 'sufficiant' capitalized incorrectly as 'Sufficient', 'world wide'). This demonstrates a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary, which is characteristic of a Band 5.0 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The text suffers from major structural issues, particularly the complete absence of standard punctuation, leaving long, run-on sentences with incorrect lower-case beginnings at the start of sentences. There is a very limited range of structures successfully used, and attempts at complex sentences are faulty and confusing. Grammatical errors are frequent throughout the response, including subject-verb agreement issues and missing articles, causing significant difficulty for the reader and fitting the Band 4.0 criteria closely.

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